Media, Risk and Science

Given the visibility of science in popular culture and news media, and ongoing
debates about how
communication influences the relationship between science and society, Media,
Risk and
Science is a timely book. As a welcome addition to the series Issues in
Cultural and Media
Studies (of which Allen is also the editor), this introductory text is
ambitious in scope, not least
because the prospective audience includes students of media and cultural
studies, science studies,
journalism, sociology and politics. The aims are also ambitious, dealing with
representations of
science, definitions of risk, threat and hazard, considering interpretations of
media representations, and
reflecting on what media and cultural studies can inform us about contemporary
scientific
controversies.

The book is split into eight chapters, beginning with an introduction that
rehearses arguments about the
relationship between science and society and the reporting of risk in science
coverage. Key to this
chapter is the claim that the book contributes to the development of 'a
conceptual framework for the
purpose of engaging with several pressing debates in this exciting area of
inquiry'; an admirable, if
challenging objective. The following chapters begin this process by examining
science fiction and
popular culture, arguing, with good reason, that conducting analyses of popular
culture can inform our
understanding of the relationship between science and society.

The following five chapters move the debate to reporting in news media outlets,
beginning with a
chapter on science journalism. This focus seems a little narrow given the
previous chapter's discussion
of science museums, films and books. It could have been extended to consider
those involved both in
the production of popular culture and news media representations, therefore
investigating similarities
and differences between these producers of representations of science.

The remaining chapters draw mainly on examples from UK and US national print
media outlets
without making a case as to whether the author considers the media marketplaces
in these countries to
be comparable. In doing so Allen reviews a wide range of literature, mainly from
existing empirical
studies that consider reporting of physical, environmental, health and
biological sciences. As such, the
book comments on these issues, often characterising this reporting in terms of
'moral panics'. It is
noted, briefly, that this concept has been critiqued. There is some discussion
of primary research, and
of how audiences interpret and contextualise popular culture and media
representations.

Where Allen draws together existing work, in particular his discussion of the
links between fictional
and factual representations, this work is interesting and informative. Indeed,
where I find the book to be
strongest is when Allen draws on arguments about how images from popular culture
are used as
shorthand to frame representations of science. The discussion and examples that
illustrate how media
reporting changes over time are also interesting and informative.

There are a number of additional features that are useful, not least the
addition of a glossary of key
terms and the introduction of suggestions for further reading at the end of each
of the chapters. As this
is an introductory text, these are welcome additions. I would question the use
of the quotations at the
beginning of the chapters, however. Whilst some of these are helpful, they would
surely better serve
the arguments being developed if they were included directly in the text of the
chapters.

Whilst the literature from media and cultural studies is important with respect
to understanding the role
of science controversies, science studies also has much to say on this matter
and this is under-
represented. I feel that further consideration of the literature on the
provisional, contingent and often
contested nature of scientific knowledge, and how this is (re)constructed across
a range of media could
have been explored in relation to all the issues discussed in the book to good
effect. Also, given the
ambitious aims of the book I wondered whether the 235 pages could have been
extended to include
chapters specifically on interpretation and media influence, and a concluding
chapter that drew together
the key themes of media, risk and science, and the conceptual framework
discussed in the earlier
chapters.

In conclusion, this is a timely introductory text that considers the
relationship between media, risk and
science. It draws together a wide range of existing literature on a range of key
issues, examining
science in popular culture and news media. In so doing, it reviews literature on
a series of case studies,
raising a number of key issues well worthy of detailed study.